Answered by Maureen Watt (Friday, February 29, 2008): Local authorities procure new schools through more than one procurement route. Seven local authorities have signed school PPP contracts since May 2007, allowing building work to progress on 45 schools, almost all new builds. Those authorities, with their shares of 45 schools, are Aberdeen City (10), Dumfries and Galloway (10), East Dunbartonshire (6), Falkirk (4), Perth and Kinross (9), West Dunbartonshire (4) and West Lothian (2). With the exception of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), the Scottish Government does not hold comprehensive information about local authorities'' school building contracts.

Monday, September 29, 2008

For months and months, I've been banging on about what a miserable failure I believe the SNP have been in the specific area of Education-policy ...

... maybe things are even worse in Edinburgh than elsewhere, but from speaking to colleagues across the country, very few have anything positive to say about what's happened within Education post-May 2007. To be fair, that sense of genuine despair does not pervade every policy area that the Scottish Government is responsible for.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

... what's not been such a huge topic of discussion in the UK, is the fact that today Austria became the first European country to lower the franchise to all 16 and 17 year olds. Some 200,000 additional individuals being entitled to vote for the first time ;-)

I'm all in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 - but the tone of debate about this issue in the UK is sometimes pretty derisory ... just check out some of the political responses here :-(

"The changes mentioned in your article are as a result of operational changes on CAE's part. This was based on a decision made by the board of CAE and we were pleased to grant them an additional £15,000 last year to assist".

I've tried my very best to steer clear of American politics for a bit - think my last entry on the ongoing contest was this, now over two months ago!

... but, the first head-to-head televised debate, which appears to be going ahead this evening (well, first thing tomorrow morning), has grabbed my interest again - I'm still of the firm opinion that Obama is going to win by a comfortable margin in November, but I guess tonight will be a good guide as to the current state of play in the Obama V McCain contest?

on that day (do read the press coverage) - less than 48 hours ago - the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition said they had been at an "extremely productive meeting and in coming to the decision to centralise their services, CAE gave reassurances to the council that service provision would be maintained at exactly the same level, regardless of where clients live within the city." No coalition attempt was made to reverse the decision.

on that day (again, do read the press coverage) - our Labour Group spokeswoman on these issues, Lesley Hinds, said: "There is no way a single centralised office can do the work of five offices."

on Thursday (yesterday) sustained pressure from Labour politicians across the city led to a series of frantically arranged meetings with the CAE Board.

on Friday (today) the CAE Board have just announced they are "suspending the closures of the Pilton, Leith, Fountainbridge, and Portobello offices pending a further consultation".

What an utter and total shambles!

The result - for now - may be positive, but do note I've emboldened the word 'suspending' from the CAE announcement.

Don't forget that one of the threatened offices was in Pilton (near the Forth Ward), and I'd be willing to take any bets that this whole issue will come back AFTER the 6th November by-election ...

... but if you ask me; the best way to ensure this type of ridiculous, local political mismanagement stops is to send a very clear message to the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition at said by-election.

Very good article in the Guardian today, which is well worth a read ... its about 'ethical banking' - but don't be put off, it is an interesting read!

... I should declare my slight-bias here - I switched to the Co-operative Bank years ago, and I also use the local Credit Union for small savings and loans (which I frequently need!), and I've had nothing but excellent service from both organisations over the years I've been a member.

I do think Deborah Hargreaves makes some very telling points about the banking industry having to rebuild faith amongst its customers (very similar points can be made about politics in general) and models such as the Co-operative Bank and Credit Unions could well provide a few lessons on how to do just that.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

There's a truly unmissable quote from our great Leader in today's Evening News ... it relates to a poll by MORI (commissioned by the Council) which found that a 'record 95 per cent' of people believe Edinburgh is a good place to live. Actually, its been in the low 90 per cents for quite some time ...

... but the same poll also found the Council's own approval rating had plummeted from 56 per cent to 48 per cent – with particular concern about whether taxpayers were getting good value for money.

The Councillor Leader is quoted as saying:

"Its odd that satisfaction with life in the city is so high, compared to the council's lowly approval rating. I would like to know why that is?"

If she honestly doesn't know the answer to that, then Edinburgh really is in deep, deep trouble ...

I have to say that I am frankly not supportive of the position recently taken by the Leaders of Scotland's Councils, and I do think that a re-negotiated settlement is achievable, and that an improved offer is possible.

Both sides need to get back round the table and recommence negotiations.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Edinburgh have just announced they are to close 4 out of the 5 local Edinburgh Branches across the city - rationalising all the services in the 1 City Centre Branch in Dundas Street!

It's a totally crazy proposal.

Can you think of any worse time to shut down 80% of the Capital City's CAB network - I mean its not as if there will be much demand for advice on financial issues given how well the global economy is currently performing :-(

... and to rub salt into the wound, the News Release announcing all of this boldly states "we will introduce an e-mail service to further extend our reach and extend volunteering opportunities" - that's okay then?

Errrr ... aren't those most in need of CAB services most likely NOT to be connected to the internet??

And just have a look at CAB Edinburgh's website - here - I'll quote what's there, just in case it swiftly disappears:

Currently our email advice service is unavailable. Please either call your local office, or visit us to make an appointment.

There won't be a local office for most of the city shortly :-((

Talk about kicking people when they are down.

If ever there was an example of the need for a bit of local leadership from the Council (who are one of the main funders of CAB Edinburgh) then this is it ... sadly, I won' be holding my breath.

Two local meetings this evening about proposed Post Office closures in (or on the edge of) the Ward ... in Shandon and Gorgie.

I know only too well that there's a wider-issue with the financial stability of the overall Post Office network (some £500million per day is being lost - that's taxpayers money by the way!) ... but there are pretty severe Post Office cuts being proposed in and around the South West area of the city.

Stenhouse only closed a couple of years ago, and now Shandon, Gorgie and Longstone are all being put forward for consideration to close. I just don't see how the remaining Post Offices in the local area - at Chesser (in the ASDA) and in Gorgie (within the Scotmid) - will cope with the increased migration of business?

Monday, September 22, 2008

Attended the periodic meeting of the Lothian Valuation Joint Board this morning ... there was a "quarterly progress" report on the agenda, usually a fairly non-contentious update on the organisation's work dealing with Electoral Registration, Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates etc.

Tucked away in a section entitled 'Council Tax - New Dwellings' was the shocking statistic that such activity is down because 'new house completions' across the Lothians have dropped by some 25%.

Old friend of ours from down South (from our years in sunny Stoke!) in Edinburgh yesterday ... took him on a 'Garden Tour' of the Royal Mile and if you haven't already tried out this relatively new Edinburgh-venture, then book on one of their tours right now :-)

... really excellent couple of hours.

Despite working right in the heart of the High Street, I visited half-a-dozen partially hidden gardens that I never knew existed ... and I learned all about the garden histories into the bargain.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Given the brevity of the Council Meeting, actually managed to attend an open-evening at Tynecastle High School tonight ... junior will go there next August - I can hardly believe its come around so quickly!

... but much worse than that slightly minor annoyance, is the serious issue of the scale of bus service cut-backs now approved :-((

The actual report is not particularly clear on the real impact of what was decided yesterday, but Lothian Buses have now put up a couple of News Releases on their website which list the full scale of what is about to happen:

Please do have a quick look - but be warned, it is not pleasant viewing.

Now, I know only too well that very real pressures are prevailing on Lothian Buses at the moment ...

But, what is hugely annoying is the fact that the current Council Administration are quite happy to 'posture' on the issue of Post Offices and argue that some should be saved on grounds of social need and then do nothing about it when they have the power to do so - just look at what can be done where there is political will ...

... but they will not even properly apply the same logic to bus services, duly recognising they are of significant social need and re-allocating some additional monies to save services? They very clearly have the power to do this, but yet again no concerted action is forthcoming??

What a contrast from 3 or 4 years ago when any minor alteration to a bus service that went through a Lib-Dem ward was greeted with howls of protest - how times have changed :-((

... I do think that some serious consideration about the very local impact (here in Edinburgh) of all that's happening to the banking and finance sector is starting to look pretty urgent and possibly somewhat overdue?

Just look at Table 19, at the top of Page 13, in this publication ... over 83,000 of Edinburgh's workforce are dependant on employment within the 'banking, insurance, finance and business services' sectors ...

... that's just short of 30% of the whole city workforce - a huge concentration in one area of economic activity that is currently undergoing a period of massive flux.

Frankly, I'm not clear what the current Council leadership's position, or views, on all of this are?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I've had several nationalist-leaning friends bemoaning one of my posts from a few days ago ... their line of accusation has been:

OK, we know the First Minister is liable to occasional exaggeration and bluster ... he's a politician for goodness sake ... but that Finance Secretary is a decent bloke, not like your usual careerist Party-hack, so back off would you?

Well, believe it or not, I did think very carefully before putting up the post in question - and I concluded I should publish it because he DID speak an untruth. Whether that's his usual style, others can decide?

... but do have a look here at the relevant debate from the Scottish Parliament on the 27th June 2007 - specifically go to col 1130, and read on a bit and you'll see the Minister for Transport makes it quite clear what the cancelled tram money would have been used for: bus developments.

Now, later in that debate, said Cabinet Secretary took part and never mentioned schools - in fact, no one from any Party mentioned schools.

I'll continue to be polite about it - but frankly, it is an untruth to suggest that tram monies would have been used for schools if the project had been cancelled.

"Without legislation (which would lead to the requirement for financial investment) then class sizes of 18 or less for P1-P3 are not going to happen. It's a cruel deception to suggest otherwise."I also posted about a minor, additional problem here ... there is no planned legislation this year!

To put it bluntly, 'class sizes of 18 or less for P1-P3' is a busted flush and the relevant Cabinet Secretary should have the honesty to admit it.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I don't usually accuse people of telling 'untruths' - I think I've only levelled that accusation once before ... see here

... then please read here, which explains why I felt so annoyed at the time of the first post!

Sadly, I do feel that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has today joined the dubious company of the First Minister in the telling of untruths :-(

... just look at what he says here, - I'll quote the relevant section: "Some of the decisions they have taken have been to invest in a very comprehensive tram system – investment that could clearly have been invested in schools."

This is quite simply not true and I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary knows it, and I would humbly suggest he should really refrain from transferring the 'political banter' of the street into the debating chamber of the legislative Parliament of Scotland. Such antics demean us all.

The Parliamentary Bills for tramline 1 and tramline 2 were approved long before May 2007 and finance was thereafter allocated and budgeted for. The SNP tried (fair enough) to over-turn that allocation but failed.

To suggest that failure led directly to a lack of capital for schools in Edinburgh is fatuous in the extreme. Dare one suggest it may have more to do with the failure of the fabled SFT??

... if you're still in doubt, here's a little reminder of how well our Government is doing in the school building stakes:

Answered by Maureen Watt (Friday, February 29, 2008): Local authorities procure new schools through more than one procurement route. Seven local authorities have signed school PPP contracts since May 2007, allowing building work to progress on 45 schools, almost all new builds. Those authorities, with their shares of 45 schools, are Aberdeen City (10), Dumfries and Galloway (10), East Dunbartonshire (6), Falkirk (4), Perth and Kinross (9), West Dunbartonshire (4) and West Lothian (2). With the exception of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), the Scottish Government does not hold comprehensive information about local authorities'' school building contracts.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Have received the terribly sad news today that one of my Labour Group colleagues, Elizabeth Maginnis, died in the very early hours of this morning.

Having now spoken to all of my Group colleagues, all I can say is we're totally shocked by Elizabeth's sudden and tragic death.

Elizabeth was a member of a large and very loving family, of whom she spoke often, and first-and-foremost all our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

Elizabeth was an elected Councillor in Edinburgh for over two decades and all throughout that period she lived in, worked in, and represented North Edinburgh. She was an intrinsic part of that local community and her breadth of knowledge, experience and sheer passion for the north of this city will be frankly irreplaceable.

She also played a crucial role in the development of Early Years (Nursery) Education, during her Convener-ship of Lothian Region's Education Committee in the early 1990's ... a policy which has since been universally adopted across the whole of Scotland.

A truly tragic loss for her family, the North of Edinburgh, and the wider city.

Well, mix that subject up with the SNP's plan for a National (for that's what is is) Income Tax and - hey presto - Jenkins has sussed it ... "the great city of Glasgow will become an agency of the Edinburgh civil service".Sadly, he's almost spot-on :-(

... problem is, its actually a lot worse than he thinks RIGHT NOW, because we no longer "work out what they need within agreed spending targets, but have some discretion in fixing council tax levels thereafter". Not since that 'nice' Council Tax freeze earlier this year.

Yes: the whole of Scottish Local Government is on the verge of losing ALL autonomy ... on that Jenkins is tragically right - unless, of course, the current plans are watered down to give local variability and discretion (its called autonomy!) ...

... and he's also realised the HUGE IRONY that its the Party of "Independence" who is going to remove that very same thing from the tier of Government they now control.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

I'm awash with local complaints about the amount of rubbish lying at the side of the 'large wheelie bins' in the Harrison/Shandon/Ashley/ Fountainbridge area ...

... here are a couple of pictures taken today to underscore just why so many constituents are very annoyed :-(

What's making people even more angry, is that the regular-sized bins, which can be emptied by standard bin-lorries, are being collected and dealt with as usual ...

... and, wait for it, the bin-crews in those trucks are just driving past the larger wheelie bins which are surrounded by piles of rubbish - as you can see :-((

Now, I know its not the bin-crews fault per se ... but why management hasn't instructed them to sort out the immediate mess around the larger wheelie bins is simply beyond me. Surely not difficult to organise such?

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Regular blog readers will remember we, as a Political Group, opposed the latest round of "Organisational Review" being inflicted on the Children and Families Department at the Council ...

... well, it all came back to the Education Committee last week and further changes were pushed through - again, against our judgement and without our support.

Interesting, if not depressing, to see that the whole saga is now making the feature pages of the Herald - I'll reproduce the pertinent points here:

... Unison and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) have had angry exchanges with the council over plans to restructure children and families work, including the removal of 12 managers through redundancy or redeployment.However Ruth Stark of BASW says she was "deeply concerned" about the plans passed by the council's Education, Children and Families committee last week.

The managers likely to lose their jobs are among the council's most experienced staff, she said, and are involved in day-to-day work with families.

Stark says: "Lord Laming, in his report on the fate of Victoria Climbie, highlighted the importance of the support and guidance needed by frontline child protection staff from senior managers and practitioners. These are not people who sit behind desks pushing paper but experienced social workers who will often be that second pair of eyes in a child protection investigation and in the work with adults to help prevent child abuse," she says.

"Their skill and expertise is vital in keeping our children safe. Given the similar findings of the Caleb Ness Inquiry in Edinburgh, it is extremely short-sighted of the Councillors in the City of Edinburgh to be discarding this high level skill and expertise in child protection work and leaving their frontline staff in a very exposed situation."

Unison's Tom Connolly adds: "Many of these staff carry some of the most complex cases. It is astonishing that the council is saying it wants to allocate all the cases that are on waiting lists, and to do this it is cutting staff."

Now, how such sentiments CANNOT be ringing alarm bells amongst those in charge, I simply fail to understand??

... I was just beginning to think that perhaps I had let a little bit of unnecessary political bias into my thinking on all of this - until I looked at this morning's Herald :-(

I should be clear - I have no intrinsic issue with composite classes - but they are now being used, along with every other 'fix' possible, to try and drive P1, P2 and P3 class sizes down towards 18 pupils. It is NOT 'fixes' that are required, but MONEY.

... morning session was fairly enjoyable, with relatively good-natured debate about the merits (or not!) of AV as opposed to FPTP - I know, arcane stuff, but important nevertheless ;-)

... afternoon session was not enjoyable, with another interminable discussion about details of the Society's "Articles of Association" - honestly, it makes 'AV versus FPTP' seem of earth-shattering importance by comparison. Truly dull :-(

Anyhow, London was looking splendid on Saturday - sun shone all day and it felt more like 4,000, than 400, miles away given the weather upon my return to Edinburgh last night!

Councillor Andrew Burns

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